Amédé Ardoin
Louisiana Creole musician whose early recordings and syncopated playing influenced Cajun music and zydeco.
- Years
- 1898–1942
- Country
- United States
- Instrument
- Diatonic accordion, voice
Amédé Ardoin was a Creole accordionist and singer from Louisiana. His rhythmic one-row button accordion and high, blues-inflected voice shaped dance music in the region. With fiddler Dennis McGee, he recorded across the racial divide of the time, bringing Creole and Cajun traditions into a shared recorded repertoire.
The pair's 1929 New Orleans recordings for Columbia entered the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2003. Ardoin continued recording through 1934, including Les Blues de la Prison. His syncopated playing and singing influenced later Cajun music and zydeco, while the surviving records document an early era of Louisiana music.
Selected works, recordings and publications
- Taunt Aline1929
An Ardoin–McGee recording included in the National Recording Registry.
Release / publisherColumbia recording · 1929
Publication source - Les Blues de la Prison1934
A song from Ardoin's final recording session.
Release / publisherDecca recording · 1934
Publication source
Biography source Library of Congress National Recording Registry Smithsonian Folkways recording notes